Divorce as a Foreigner

[whenlovetakesover]

Hi. I'm on a FLR(M) visa as a spouse of a UK citizen. Our relationship is broken down. File Attachment: We will divorce as soon as I get my Canada open work permit. Hong Kong is not safe and I do not plan to return there.

I need to ensure the whole divorce process is legal and does not affect my citizenship pathway for Canada.

As a foreigner, I understand legally I need to "tell the Home Office when I divorce or separate from my partner if my visa is based on our relationship" (www.gov.uk/visas-when-you-separate-or-divorce), then the Home Office will "tell me when do I need to leave the UK".

My questions are:

1. Do I inform the Home Office of divorce immediately after applying for divorce online through gov.uk, or after getting the decree absolute (officially getting a "divorced" status)?
2. It takes at least six months to get the decree absolute. If I need to inform the Home Office immediately after applying for divorce online through gov.uk, and they only give me a short time to leave the UK, will i be able to finish all the remaining steps (until getting the decree absolute) in Canada?

Have to make this post because I called UKVI twice for this issue, they gave me two completely opposite answers on the first question.

Thank you.

What country are you originally from?

When you file for divorce, presumably that is considered separation, and you would then need to inform the Home Office? That is what it seems from the wording.
I really would suggest that you ask a solicitor though, to be sure. A solicitor in a big city with many people from abroad will have seen this situation before, so maybe London, Birmingham, Edinburgh etc.
If you are an HK citizen, can you not apply for British citizenship now under the new scheme? If you have a life set up here it will be hard to begin yet again.